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Released September 07, 2022 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Under sweltering heat and electric power emergencies, California lawmakers on August 31 and September 1 voted overwhelmingly to extend the life of the two-unit Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station past its scheduled closure dates of 2024 and 2025. The legislation would keep both units operating through 2030.
Regulatory agencies will need to sign off on a license extension, which could collapse if Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) (San Francisco, California), Diablo Canyon's owner and operator, fails to win a share of newly created federal funds to keep financially embattled nuclear plants operating. The legislation also offered PG&E a $1.4 billion forgivable loan to extend the life of the two-unit, 2,255-megawatt (MW) nuclear plant.
Late at night on August 31, the California Senate voted 31-1 to pass the measure, Senate Bill 846, which was introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom. The state House of Representatives voted 69-3 on September 1 to support the measure. Newsom signed the bill on September 2.
In a September 2 letter to the legislature expressing his intent to sign S.B. 846 into law, Newsom wrote: "Climate change is causing unprecedented stress on California's energy system, and I appreciate the Legislature's action to maintain energy reliability as the State accelerates the transition to clean energy. Senate Bill 846 facilitates the actions necessary to keep the option of the [Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station] as a statewide reliability asset beyond the current 2024-2025 retirement dates of the plant's two units."
The bill's passage came as the state's grid operator declared a series of power emergencies. As temperatures as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal baked the state, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) (Folsom, California) declared seven consecutive days of power emergencies, starting on August 31 and continuing through Tuesday. Customers were asked to minimize their energy use after 4 pm.
Two years ago, in August 2020, during another brutally hot stretch of weather, electric demand overwhelmed supply and the state began a series of rolling blackouts that eventually affected hundreds of thousands of people.
Keeping Diablo Canyon operational was seen widely as one way to keep rolling blackouts at bay. Nuclear interests praised the passage of S.B. 846, but environmental groups slammed it. The measure was backed by Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, who rarely agree on much.
"I'm not a proponent of the Diablo Canyon power plant, but I am a proponent of keeping the lights on," state Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) said. Added a Republican peer, Assemblyperson Jim Patterson (R-Fresno): "You can't have it both ways. You can't say to the people of California, we'll keep your lights on and we'll do it affordably at the same time that we make those very affordable electrons unavailable."
Patterson added: "If we don't do this, we're going to have to explain to our constituents why our foolish decisions have created circumstances in which they are compelled to live in a state in which they can't use their air conditioner."
Beyond potentially preventing energy emergencies and rolling blackouts, the bill's supporters said Diablo Canyon was necessary if the state wanted to attain its goal of getting 100% of its electricity from clean and renewable sources by 2045. Diablo Canyon generated nearly 9% of the state's electricity last year and roughly 15% of the state's clean energy production.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth blasted the extension as "reckless beyond belief." In digital ads before the legislature voted on S.B. 846, the group said "one earthquake could expose millions to radiation."
One reason for the 2016 decision to close the nuclear plant was seismic risk. Another was to preclude billions of dollars of upgrades to the plant's cooling system.
After suffering through an electricity crisis in 2000-2001, California voters recalled Governor Gray Davis. History may have been on the minds of some of those elected officials who backed the measure: While nuclear power may or may be a good thing, it certainly was not a good idea to allow about 9% of the state electricity generation capacity to be retired as the state's electric utilities struggled with keeping the lights on.
As S.B. 846 was being developed in the legislature, Newsom's senior energy adviser, Karen Douglas, told lawmakers that as much as 40% of planned renewable generation had not come online as scheduled during the summer of 2022. At an August 25 hearing, she blamed "headwinds such as supply-chain constraints, inflation, and other kinds of uncertainty" for the shortfall.
In a 2016 agreement, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a unit of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (San Francisco), agreed to retire Unit 1 in 2024 and Unit 2 in 2025, when their operating licenses expire. For more on that agreement, see July 20, 2016, article - Diablo Canyon Proposal: A Turning Point for the U.S. Nuclear Industry?
Now that the bill has been signed into law, a mad dash is expected to ensue for PG&E to get a slice of the $6 billion in federal funding to keep financially ailing nuclear power plants operating that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act, recently signed into law by President Joe Biden. Failure to win the requisite funds from that program will torpedo the life-extension plan, and the state will withdraw its $1.4 billion forgivable loan.
The utility also will have to withdraw its notice to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to not seek a renewal of the two units' operating licenses when they expire in 2024 and 2025. Instead, PG&E will have to apply for a license extension, a lengthy process. State regulatory agencies like the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) also will have to approve the continued operation of Diablo Canyon.
After California lawmakers approved the bill, Craig Piercy, chief executive of the American Nuclear Society, said in a statement that "California's decision to keep Diablo Canyon running is just the latest indication of nuclear energy's growing resurgence in the U.S." The Nuclear Energy Institute said the California vote "mirrors actions we have seen around the country and around the world as governments recognize the critical role nuclear plays in decarbonizing the electric sector."
Earlier this year, Kathryn Huff, assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy, told a nuclear energy event in Washington, D.C., "Have no doubt, President Biden is serious about doing everything possible to get the U.S. to be powered by clean energy. Nuclear energy is really essential to this."
Ralph Cavanagh, the energy co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (New York, New York), supports nuclear power as a transition to a decarbonized energy future. In the remaining years before 2024 and 2025, when Diablo Canyon is scheduled to be closed, he urged participants to redouble their efforts to find non-emitting alternatives. "The danger of Diablo Canyon," he told The Guardian in an interview earlier this year, "is that it is a tempting way of somehow assuming that there's an easy way to avoid responsibility for the next phases of the clean energy transition."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
Regulatory agencies will need to sign off on a license extension, which could collapse if Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) (San Francisco, California), Diablo Canyon's owner and operator, fails to win a share of newly created federal funds to keep financially embattled nuclear plants operating. The legislation also offered PG&E a $1.4 billion forgivable loan to extend the life of the two-unit, 2,255-megawatt (MW) nuclear plant.
Late at night on August 31, the California Senate voted 31-1 to pass the measure, Senate Bill 846, which was introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom. The state House of Representatives voted 69-3 on September 1 to support the measure. Newsom signed the bill on September 2.
In a September 2 letter to the legislature expressing his intent to sign S.B. 846 into law, Newsom wrote: "Climate change is causing unprecedented stress on California's energy system, and I appreciate the Legislature's action to maintain energy reliability as the State accelerates the transition to clean energy. Senate Bill 846 facilitates the actions necessary to keep the option of the [Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station] as a statewide reliability asset beyond the current 2024-2025 retirement dates of the plant's two units."
The bill's passage came as the state's grid operator declared a series of power emergencies. As temperatures as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal baked the state, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) (Folsom, California) declared seven consecutive days of power emergencies, starting on August 31 and continuing through Tuesday. Customers were asked to minimize their energy use after 4 pm.
Two years ago, in August 2020, during another brutally hot stretch of weather, electric demand overwhelmed supply and the state began a series of rolling blackouts that eventually affected hundreds of thousands of people.
Keeping Diablo Canyon operational was seen widely as one way to keep rolling blackouts at bay. Nuclear interests praised the passage of S.B. 846, but environmental groups slammed it. The measure was backed by Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, who rarely agree on much.
"I'm not a proponent of the Diablo Canyon power plant, but I am a proponent of keeping the lights on," state Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) said. Added a Republican peer, Assemblyperson Jim Patterson (R-Fresno): "You can't have it both ways. You can't say to the people of California, we'll keep your lights on and we'll do it affordably at the same time that we make those very affordable electrons unavailable."
Patterson added: "If we don't do this, we're going to have to explain to our constituents why our foolish decisions have created circumstances in which they are compelled to live in a state in which they can't use their air conditioner."
Beyond potentially preventing energy emergencies and rolling blackouts, the bill's supporters said Diablo Canyon was necessary if the state wanted to attain its goal of getting 100% of its electricity from clean and renewable sources by 2045. Diablo Canyon generated nearly 9% of the state's electricity last year and roughly 15% of the state's clean energy production.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth blasted the extension as "reckless beyond belief." In digital ads before the legislature voted on S.B. 846, the group said "one earthquake could expose millions to radiation."
One reason for the 2016 decision to close the nuclear plant was seismic risk. Another was to preclude billions of dollars of upgrades to the plant's cooling system.
After suffering through an electricity crisis in 2000-2001, California voters recalled Governor Gray Davis. History may have been on the minds of some of those elected officials who backed the measure: While nuclear power may or may be a good thing, it certainly was not a good idea to allow about 9% of the state electricity generation capacity to be retired as the state's electric utilities struggled with keeping the lights on.
As S.B. 846 was being developed in the legislature, Newsom's senior energy adviser, Karen Douglas, told lawmakers that as much as 40% of planned renewable generation had not come online as scheduled during the summer of 2022. At an August 25 hearing, she blamed "headwinds such as supply-chain constraints, inflation, and other kinds of uncertainty" for the shortfall.
In a 2016 agreement, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a unit of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (San Francisco), agreed to retire Unit 1 in 2024 and Unit 2 in 2025, when their operating licenses expire. For more on that agreement, see July 20, 2016, article - Diablo Canyon Proposal: A Turning Point for the U.S. Nuclear Industry?
Now that the bill has been signed into law, a mad dash is expected to ensue for PG&E to get a slice of the $6 billion in federal funding to keep financially ailing nuclear power plants operating that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act, recently signed into law by President Joe Biden. Failure to win the requisite funds from that program will torpedo the life-extension plan, and the state will withdraw its $1.4 billion forgivable loan.
The utility also will have to withdraw its notice to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to not seek a renewal of the two units' operating licenses when they expire in 2024 and 2025. Instead, PG&E will have to apply for a license extension, a lengthy process. State regulatory agencies like the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) also will have to approve the continued operation of Diablo Canyon.
After California lawmakers approved the bill, Craig Piercy, chief executive of the American Nuclear Society, said in a statement that "California's decision to keep Diablo Canyon running is just the latest indication of nuclear energy's growing resurgence in the U.S." The Nuclear Energy Institute said the California vote "mirrors actions we have seen around the country and around the world as governments recognize the critical role nuclear plays in decarbonizing the electric sector."
Earlier this year, Kathryn Huff, assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy, told a nuclear energy event in Washington, D.C., "Have no doubt, President Biden is serious about doing everything possible to get the U.S. to be powered by clean energy. Nuclear energy is really essential to this."
Ralph Cavanagh, the energy co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (New York, New York), supports nuclear power as a transition to a decarbonized energy future. In the remaining years before 2024 and 2025, when Diablo Canyon is scheduled to be closed, he urged participants to redouble their efforts to find non-emitting alternatives. "The danger of Diablo Canyon," he told The Guardian in an interview earlier this year, "is that it is a tempting way of somehow assuming that there's an easy way to avoid responsibility for the next phases of the clean energy transition."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
